FreeHolder Steam Alpha 5
11.22.2017
Announcements
A New Year, A New Life, A New Alpha, and Onwards to 1.0!
Hello, FreeHolder community! I apologize for the utter lack of updates and attention to the game over the last several months, but I have been preparing mentally and situationally for the impending birth of my first child and daughter, due around Valentine's Day. The situational chaos that seemed to have descended upon me and my fiancee is beginning to lift, and a form for the future is taking shape. It is exciting, it is invigorating, and it requires that FreeHolder finally be brought to satisfactory completion for all concerned; quickly, but with superior style. I have been discussing the endgame scenario with Matt and we finally have a framework to understand how this game will be finished.
It is no small task. I will have to save certain far-out features for post 1.0, but a large number of things must be added now, including advanced classes, a few more different resources, vineyards and orchards, politics, diplomacy, the merchant's and thief's guilds, a few additional towns, and the final conflict/event chain of Caesar's invasion. I will be revamping the mid-game to flow more naturally from the earlier game, making the upgrading of your factions citadel via missions and building projects the central focus, just like your own villa.
The missions will be clarified and brought into line with the player's understanding of advancing through the mid-game. Faction battles will be fixed, faction armies and statistics will be simplified and clarified, and the general difficulty will be increased to absorb the power of advanced classes and items, but this difficulty will not simply be engendered by the never-ending presence of factions on your land, but structural. Might will not be the only option to deal with the situation.
I have made a start of introducing the advanced classes. I have the 8 that flow from the 4 basic classes: Ranger, Rancher, Artisan, and Gardener. There will be 7 more based on the magic, combat and stealth classes. I will revamp the levels so that players can class up around level 5 or 6 once more advanced skills are available, but right now it functions as a sort of preview at level 8. At the moment you need to have learned a particular advanced skill to change to the advanced class (essentially you upgrade the skill to the "expert" level, which classes you up at the same time) and the advanced class receives an additional typed action each month. The needed skill for classing is noted in the skill description.
I only have the "signature" skill for a few of the advanced classes functioning right now. It is my intention over this holiday to implement as many new skills as possible, and maybe start doing up some character art for the new classes. It is a quite a bit of work but it is very enjoyable to me, and I feel like the addition of new art, however primitive, will freshen up the aesthetic a little bit and make the advanced classes seem like more of an achievement. I know that coding the game up is the main priority right now. And if you don't like my character art style you couldn't probably care less. :D
I know there are plenty of glitches and issues need to be addressed and adding new classes doesn't help with that, but they excite the hell out of me and once I get into this I'll start rolling in bug fixes like Katamari on a rampage. I want to do another skill hotfix by turkey time tomorrow, and one or two more from Friday-Sunday.
Thank you for your patience. And thank you for your belief and support in FreeHolder. In truth, it has gotten me through some difficult times and moments of grave doubt. My endless gratitude to you all.
-Chris
Currently Working On:
+Grafting skill for Genius
+Trapping skill for Sentinel
+Animal Whisperer skill for Veteranarius
+Muse's Song skill for Guildmaster
+Ore Sampling skill for Engineer
+Meteor Shower skill for Warrior
+Whisperhands skill for Agent
+Shadowrunner skill for Agent
+More advanced classes and class skills
?Advanced class character art
Added Features
-Preview: 8 new advanced classes, 2 choices per basic class.
-Ranger: Sentinel, Nomad
-Gardener: Villein, Genius
-Rancher: Merchant, Veteranarius
-Artisan: Engineer, Guildmaster
-Harvest Tide skill for Villein added
-Trackless Steps skill for Nomad added
-Blast Processing skill for Merchant added
-Splicing (renamed Seedbank) skill for Gardener added
-Mastercraft skill for Artisan added
-Fine Artistry skill for Artisan added
-Homesteading skill for Rancher now functioning
Bugfixes
-Levels are now capped at 8 for advanced classes, 7 for basic.
-Fixed one source of item duplication problems
-Game no longer freezes when clicking on faction tiles before revealed
-Watering rig is now available immediately